Table 1.

Demographic characteristics of Medicare beneficiaries with incident Parkinson disease in the U.S. (year=2002).

Patient Characteristics	Incident PD Cases (Total = 138,728)
	n	%
Sex
Males	65,423	47.2
Females	73,305	52.8
Race
White	125,660	90.6
Black	8,527	6.1
Hispanic	3,036	2.2
Asian	1,505	1.1
Age ^*
67–69	9,638	6.9
70–74	23,391	16.9
75–79	33,789	24.4
80–84	35,198	25.4
85+	37,812	26.5
Population Density ^**
Urban (population >250,000)	106,602	76.8
Rural (population <2,500)	8,936	6.4
Total Person-years of follow up	832,368 person-years

To be designated as an incident case, a beneficiary was required to have two years of Medicare data with no PD claims; therefore, youngest age possible is 67.

^**

According to the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Urban Continuum Code. Data on intermediate classes are not listed.